Blog Report for the First Half of 2017 – Returning From a Hiatus

Monthly blog report diving into blog traffic, social media stats and making progress

Hi guys! Are you enjoying the beginning of summer?

I can tell you I’m absolutely loving it, and I love that I’ve started working on my blog after a hiatus. I wanted to bring back the monthly habit of sharing a progress report for my blog, just like I used to do.

But why even share these reports? Who would do such a silly thing?

Me. Because:

It’s an ongoing case study: I share what works for me and what doesn’t. I create something I can look back on and see how my blog has developed.

For the sake of transparency: I don’t want to keep any secrets from my readers. For people who hasn’t owned a blog, it can be difficult to understand what goes on behind the scenes.. I wanna be open about what’s going on with this blog and the directions I take it.

I’m going to track my stats anyway, so I may as well share it on here 🙂

Some people feel weird about sharing their blog stats and such, because it makes it so easy to compare.

What if that girl is getting more views than me?

So what! Numbers don’t matter that much.

This is not about bragging. Because I could show you so many blogs with millions more readers than mine. But that’s irrelevant.

I don’t share these reports to reduce the value of blogging to simple numbers and graphs. There’s so much more to it than that, and there’s no real way to measure meaningful connections between people.

I’ve written about popularity and blogging for numbers previously, which you can read right here. I mention this post, because it’s important to keep your perspective and not put too much meaning into basic numbers and statistics before we dive in to the data.

Thank you for joining me behind the scenes, I’m grateful to have you here!

Budget – Tools I’ve used

At some point this might turn into the ‘Income and Expenses’-section, but at the moment my blog isn’t a moneymaker, it’s a hobby (And I’d just feel a bit weird about discussing my finances in detail).

So instead I’ll share a few of the tools I use most often – either the free or paid version of. Please note that some of the links may be affiliate links, which means I might get a small discount or percentage if you decide sign up for a paid subscription – at no extra cost to you.

The most viewed posts in May

There’s no post from May anywhere near the most viewed posts this month, but it’s not so surprising when you consider that I only just got back from a blogging break in late May. Personally, I think my guides to running- and lifting lingo has the potential to do well over time, but it might take some time for traffic to pick up again.

The most discussed posts from May

The most shared posts from May

Blog traffic summary

Page views: 5,687 | Visitors: 4,037

It’s not a particularly good month when it comes to page views. Which is exactly what you’d expect after a break. Google is of course a good, stable source of traffic as evergreen content can continue to pull in traffic. The same applies to Pinterest, where I (thanks to BoardBooster) have been able to post regularly while checking in sporadically in the past months.

On the other hand Instagram and Bloglovin’ is, by nature, not driving any traffic when you’re not posting, so I’m hoping to see improvements here next month.

It is a bit nerve-wracking to return after a hiatus, because there’s a good chance people will have forgotten about you, followers won’t be as engaged anymore and it’s hard to regain momentum. I’ll continue to map out how I’m doing here as I discover whether my worries hold true.

Social Media Stats

Speaking of engagement, my break from Instagram turned out to be a real gut punch. I have lost a lot of followers, and the engagement on my pictures are down. Like way down. Like “Oh I didn’t even notice you lying down there in fetal position eating ice cream out of the container”-low.

Thanks to the news feed algorithm, this means that a big part of the people who has chosen to follow me won’t even see my posts, which is very discouraging. But I’m hoping it’s just a temporary dip (and that’s what I’ll continue to say living in blissful ignorance forever….).

In terms of Pinterest, I haven’t yet had a chance to fully check out their new pin stats feature, but it seems like an interesting way to view the performance of pins.

The Takeaway

To sum up what I’ve learned about blogging this month: Don’t. Ever. Stop.

Just kidding, that’s obviously not always possible. Life can get in the way. Or you need to take a break to recharge and rediscover your motivation. It’s all valid reasons, and doesn’t necessarily reflect negatively on your blog in any major way.

However, I am looking forward to getting back to work. To start writing more. To have an outlet for my creativity again. And to make sure I don’t get discouraged, I have set myself a goal:

I won’t look at my stats and follower numbers until the next blog report!

I think this is a necessary step to maintain my focus on the important areas, instead of getting the evil part of my brain fuel. You know the part that’s constantly looking for proof that you’re not good enough? I don’t like that part.

It’ll be interesting to share the results with you in June! I want to shut down the autopilot part of my brain that’s just mindlessly scrolling through social media. It’s not impossible by that time I’ve completely lost the habit of checking my stats so often and I won’t care at all. We won’t know before it’s over!

Still not dizzy from looking at all the numbers? You can dig into earlier blog reports here.

Do you have any questions about blogging you want me to address? Leave them in the comments below!

Since you made it all the way to the end, you may as well follow on Instagram or Bloglovin' as it's the best way to keep up with everything I have going onFollow

Breaks can seriously affect the traffic but sometimes there is no other way out. It’s good to see you back, Anne, going strong and full with passion. I love reading your reports and I want to wish you best of luck! I know that you will smash it in June 😉